en
the opposition to Darwin was in its acutest stage, Owen withdrew his
words. His "Reade Lecture," delivered in the University of Cambridge,
was in all respects a reprint of the essay from which we have just
quoted, but the apparently dangerous words were omitted. More than
that, the points insisted on in the essay as being sufficient for the
purpose of separating man in zooelogical classification were elevated
into a reason against descent. Although Huxley, in several addresses
and publications, disproved the existence of the alleged differences,
and although Sir William Flower gave an actual demonstration shewing
the essential identity of the brain of man and of the apes in the
matter in question, Owen never admitted his error.

[Illustration: CHARLES DARWIN
From the painting by Hon. John Collier in the National Portrait
Gallery]

It is not surprising that, if an anatomist so distinguished and acute
as was Owen allowed his judgment to be completely overborne by the
storm of prejudice against Darwinism, those who were not anatomists
should have held up to ridicule all idea of comparison between man and
the apes. In _The Origin of Species_ itself, no elaborate attempt had
been made to set forth the anatomical arguments in favour of or
against a community of descent for man and the apes. But it was made
sufficiently plain, and the public laid hold of the point eagerly,
that the doctrine of descent was not meant to exclude man from the
field of its operation. Huxley, in the course of his ordinary work as
Professor of Biology, had, among many other subjects, naturally
turned his attention to the anatomy and classification of the
higher animals. When Owen's essay appeared, he found that he was
unable to agree with many of the conclusions contained in it, and had
set about a renewed investigation of the matter. Thus it happened
that, when the question became prominent, in 1860, Huxley was ready
with material contributions to it. He believed, moreover, that, as
Darwin was not specially acquainted with the anatomy and development
of vertebrates, there was an opportunity for doing a real service to
the cause of evolution. Accordingly, in 1860, he took for the subject
of a series of lectures to workingmen the "Relation of Man to the
Lower Animals," and, in 1862, expanded the lectures into a volume
called _Man's Place in Nature_. When it was ready, he was prepared to
say with a good conscience that his conclusions "had not be